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Trying to figure which NFL teams are in and which are out at the halfway point

Congratulations to President Obama for winning another election and holding office for another four years. Best of luck to him and this country going forward. Now, let’s get back to what is really important. Good old American football! It’s the halfway point in this season in the NFL so it’s time to take a step back take a look at the landscape. Let’s see which teams have a definite shot at the postseason, which teams will not be participating and which teams still have a realistic shot to grab a wild card or a division that’s still up for grabs.

(side note: this is all hoping that there aren’t injuries to the team’s most important players but as we know, this is the NFL and injuries do occur)

Teams that are in: These teams can be confident that they will be in the playoffs but the rest of the season is left to figure out what their seeding will be. Atlanta, San Francisco and Houston have their divisions locked up. I can’t pencil in Chicago a division winner because they have two VERY tough games back to back coming up. Plus, Green Bay (another playoff lock) is only 1.5 games back and they seem to have started a streak. The Giants are a playoff team but this team has shown to stumble until they catch fire in the last weeks of the season, not a lock for the division just yet. Ravens and Steelers are both playoff teams but this division is very much still up for grabs. Patriots and Broncos will most likely win their division (both have very easy schedules remaining) but a 1 game lead isn’t enough to call it just yet.

Teams that are out: Chiefs, Jaguars, Browns and Panthers have 2 or less wins at the halfway point. Raiders, Titans, Bengals, Bills, Jets, Cardinals, Saints, Vikings and Redskins are in a division where they won’t be able to catch the leader or their schedule is much too tough to fight for a wild card position. Teams like the Vikings or Cardinals had a great start but eventually their schedules caught up to them and teams figured their weaknesses out.

Teams that are yet to be seen: The Eagles and Cowboys seem to be imploding but as history shows, this division isn’t over until the final weeks. The play each other twice in the next four weeks so that could very much be the season for both of them. Why the Lions and not the Vikings? Schedule mostly. The Lions’ last two games of the season could mean nothing for the opponent (Texans and Bears) so those could be two freebies. The Bucs (offense is on an absolute tear) and the Seahawks (defense and home field) both have favorable schedules heading forward. The Dolphins, Colts and Chargers have the luxury of both a favorable schedule and a terrible conference so their chances for a wild card spot are very much alive.